ANT-1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Ancient History
Document Summary
Agriculture was most of the ancient economy. 90% of the population worked on farms. Limited by geography giving little rain except in italy. Soil limited to small patches in many areas. An average farm family could only produce enough food for themselves plus one tenth extra. Ex. that the rent on one particular plot of farmland in egypt was 30%. The renter had to turn over 30% of the harvest to the landlord. Clearly the surplus production had to be at least 30% for that field or nobody would have bothered to rent it. It was more fertile than most places. The annual inundation by the nile fertilized the land so that it could be cultivated every year. The sunshine is strong in egypt, stronger than it is further north because the sun is higher in the sky, and the desert sky is not often cloudy. Among the greeks and romans, to begin with, each family grew food for itself.
